Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/149

 JAMES KNOX POLK 113 tween the slave and the free states. As to the an nexation of Texas and the war with Mexico, his policy was undoubtedly the result of conviction, sincerity, and good faith. He believed, with John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, that Texas had been unwisely ceded to Spain in 1819, and that it was desirable, from a geographical point of view, that it should be re-annexed, seeing that it formed a most valuable part of the valley of the Missis sippi. He was also of opinion that in a military point of view its acquisition was desirable for the protection of New Orleans, the great commercial mart of the southwestern section of the Union, which in time of war would be endangered by the close proximity of a hostile power having control of the upper waters of Red river. Holding these views and having been elevated to the presidency on a platform that expressly demanded that they should be embodied in action, and Texas again made a part of the national domain, he would have indeed been recreant to his trust had he attempted to carry out as president any policy antagonistic to that he had advocated when a candidate for that office. The war in which he became involved in carrying out these views was a detail that the nation was compelled to leave largely to his judg ment. The president believed that the representa tions and promises of the Mexican authorities could not be trusted, and that the only argument to which